|
LaVyrle Spencer is a well-loved romance novelist who has written several books, many of them New York Times Best Sellers. Her first book was The Fulfillment, which led to many others, such as Twice Loved, Family Blessings, and Bittersweet. Some of her books are historical (from early 1800’s to early 1900’s), while others are contemporary. No matter what year her books are set in, she features a strong-willed woman who wills a passion she doesn’t always know she wants.
Spencer has not always been a writer. When she was in her thirties, she worked as a teacher’s aid at a local junior high school. It wasn’t until the late 70’s that she started working on her first novel, which was published in 1979. For The Fulfillment, she received an advance of $2500. Many people, even today, only get around $1000 (though it depends on the company and the book itself). Luckily for everyone, she was a success – and how well she turned out to do! She drew her inspiration from Kathleen Woodwiss’s novels The Flame and Flower, which she said gave her the idea to become a novelist.
Today, Spencer lives in Plymouth, Minnesota (many of her books are set in areas around here, including other cities in Minnesota and places in Wisconsin), which is just outside Minneapolis. She’s been married for thirty-six years to her husband, Dan, who was her high school sweetheart. He is a retired estimator for a general contractor.
As mentioned above, Spencer’s books are usually about tough women who win a passion they often resist. Bittersweet is just such a book. In it, a recently widowed mother of an of-age teen moves back to her childhood hometown. There, she re-meets her high school sweetheart, and they strike up a friendship. However, in light of the fact that she’s widowed and that he’s stuck in an unhappy marriage, they begin an affair. Their affair results in changes all around, and not only between them – his family changes, her family changes, and her parents’ family changes, as well.
Another characteristic of Spencer’s books is that the female characters rarely get along with their mothers, though they do with their fathers (or their fathers are out of the picture). For example, in That Camden Summer (set in the early 1900’s), a divorcee in her early thirties moves back to her hometown, much to her mother’s disapproval (obviously, divorce was frowned upon then). Her brother-in-law comes onto her and eventually rapes her. Meanwhile, she’s struck a friendship with a private construction worker who’s fixing up her house. Though their daughters become friends (he’s widowed), they resist anything but friendship because it would not be proper for a divorcee and a widower to fall in love. The protagonist’s mother has some choice things to say about this, as is common in Spencer’s books. However, despite her mother, they admit their love and eventually get married.
In another example, The Hellion is about a woman, very proper, and a man, wild (hence the name “hellion”) who were once high school lovers. When she’s widowed at forty, he approaches her again after twenty-four years. Their parents hate each other and him, because they are the “upper class” in the small Alabama town, and they feel it was his fault they were disgraced years ago. At seventeen years old, they had a child together. Their past (which goes all the way back to the time they were infants) makes it hard for them to be together, as does his reputation. But he cleans himself up and shows her that he means to be there for her in every way possible. Eventually, she gives into her love for him, and they are married. In this book, it’s actually her father who disapproves.
Several of Spencer’s books have been made into movies. One of her well-known books, Family Blessings, starred Lynda Carter and was directed by Deborah Raffin and Nina Foch. The book is about a young man whose best friend dies. Because his parents are alcoholics, he had been accepted into his best friend’s family as almost a surrogate member, and so he turns to them after his best friend’s death. However, unexpectedly, he and his best friend’s mother fall in love, though he is fifteen years her junior, and though her daughter has a crush on him.
Other movies include Home Song, produced by CBSTV and starring Lee Horsley, Polly Draper, and Deborah Raffin; The Fulfillment, produced by CBSTV, starring Cheryl Ladd; and Morning Glory (written in 1989), starring Deborah Raffin and Christopher Reeve. In the last film, LaVyrle and her husband, Dan, appear as extras.
LaVyrle Spencer is a true romantic, a writer for the ages. Millions enjoy her books, and millions more are out there, waiting for their first taste of her brilliant writing. Spencer is a rightly honored romance writer.
|
| |
